Why does OM1II lose focus during BIF sequences? FW Update?

SteveNunez said:

Hey everyone,

I've noticed that the OM-1 II struggles with maintaining focus during bursts of birds in flight, often losing focus mid-sequence and producing blurry frames. Given that this camera is popular among nature photographers, why hasn't OM System improved the 'subject detection' tracking for birds in flight? This issue is well known but doesn't get much attention on YouTube, yet it’s a major frustration for OM-1 II users.

The OM-1 is often praised for its speed and autofocus, but it's incredibly frustrating to see it lose focus mid-burst, only to reacquire it a few frames later—making it unpredictable. I've attached a screenshot showing only 3 frames in focus in this particular set.

At this point, I’m on the verge of giving up on the OM-1 II and the OM 150-600mm. I simply can't get full sequences in focus. This isn’t user error—the focus jumps from sharp to soft at SH2, 20FPS, resulting in nearly as many throwaway shots as keepers.

Hoping for a firmware update to make the OM-1 the best it can be!

Click to expand...

Steve,

A couple of thoughts...

.You can set the camera to track outside the initial capture area, so you can, for example, make the initial capture area "small" and the tracking area "all" or "small" as you prefer.

That's in the menu AF2 / C-AF setting

.In menu AF1 Release Priority, set the C-AF value to Off (which will force the camera to focus first)

.AF4 C-AF Sensitivity (page 125-126 of the manual)





.AF4 C-AF Center Priority







--

Sherm

Sherms flickr page

P950 album

P900 album RX10iv album
OM1.2 150-600 album

--
Steve Nunez~South Florida Artist
www.stevenunez.com
OM System OM1II

Sherman, thank you, I'll deep dive and try some altered settings you've pointed out to see if the BIF keeper rate increases- many thanks!!

SteveNunez said:

Sherman, thank you, I'll deep dive and try some altered settings you've pointed out to see if the BIF keeper rate increases- many thanks!!

Click to expand...

+1 to Sherman's post.

I sometimes find that the camera loses good focus for a few frames in a long burst, but something like you posted would be rare. It is somewhat more likely to occur with SH2 than normal burst, if I release the shutter before it fully focuses.

I cannot tell by the size of the images if the focus is somewhere on one of the wings instead of the bird's body/eye in the poorly focused images or just focused on the background.

SteveNunez said:

Hey everyone,

I've noticed that the OM-1 II struggles with maintaining focus during bursts of birds in flight, often losing focus mid-sequence and producing blurry frames. Given that this camera is popular among nature photographers, why hasn't OM System improved the 'subject detection' tracking for birds in flight? This issue is well known but doesn't get much attention on YouTube, yet it’s a major frustration for OM-1 II users.

The OM-1 is often praised for its speed and autofocus, but it's incredibly frustrating to see it lose focus mid-burst, only to reacquire it a few frames later—making it unpredictable. I've attached a screenshot showing only 3 frames in focus in this particular set.

At this point, I’m on the verge of giving up on the OM-1 II and the OM 150-600mm. I simply can't get full sequences in focus. This isn’t user error—the focus jumps from sharp to soft at SH2, 20FPS, resulting in nearly as many throwaway shots as keepers.

Hoping for a firmware update to make the OM-1 the best it can be!

Click to expand...

Do you have eye detect selected as well as bird subject ?

Using 20fps, SH2, I find that if the bird turns its head then I lose eye detect and also lose focus. It seems the tracking doesn't automatically revert to bird subject.

3dpan said:

SteveNunez said:

Hey everyone,

I've noticed that the OM-1 II struggles with maintaining focus during bursts of birds in flight, often losing focus mid-sequence and producing blurry frames. Given that this camera is popular among nature photographers, why hasn't OM System improved the 'subject detection' tracking for birds in flight? This issue is well known but doesn't get much attention on YouTube, yet it’s a major frustration for OM-1 II users.

The OM-1 is often praised for its speed and autofocus, but it's incredibly frustrating to see it lose focus mid-burst, only to reacquire it a few frames later—making it unpredictable. I've attached a screenshot showing only 3 frames in focus in this particular set.

At this point, I’m on the verge of giving up on the OM-1 II and the OM 150-600mm. I simply can't get full sequences in focus. This isn’t user error—the focus jumps from sharp to soft at SH2, 20FPS, resulting in nearly as many throwaway shots as keepers.

Hoping for a firmware update to make the OM-1 the best it can be!

Click to expand...

Do you have eye detect selected as well as bird subject ?

Using 20fps, SH2, I find that if the bird turns its head then I lose eye detect and also lose focus. It seems the tracking doesn't automatically revert to bird subject.

Click to expand...

For model ii I think there’s no separate eye detect toggle. Have I missed it?

--

Sherm

Sherms flickr page

P950 album

P900 album RX10iv album
OM1.2 150-600 album

sherman_levine said:

3dpan said:

SteveNunez said:

Hey everyone,

I've noticed that the OM-1 II struggles with maintaining focus during bursts of birds in flight, often losing focus mid-sequence and producing blurry frames. Given that this camera is popular among nature photographers, why hasn't OM System improved the 'subject detection' tracking for birds in flight? This issue is well known but doesn't get much attention on YouTube, yet it’s a major frustration for OM-1 II users.

The OM-1 is often praised for its speed and autofocus, but it's incredibly frustrating to see it lose focus mid-burst, only to reacquire it a few frames later—making it unpredictable. I've attached a screenshot showing only 3 frames in focus in this particular set.

At this point, I’m on the verge of giving up on the OM-1 II and the OM 150-600mm. I simply can't get full sequences in focus. This isn’t user error—the focus jumps from sharp to soft at SH2, 20FPS, resulting in nearly as many throwaway shots as keepers.

Hoping for a firmware update to make the OM-1 the best it can be!

Click to expand...

Do you have eye detect selected as well as bird subject ?

Using 20fps, SH2, I find that if the bird turns its head then I lose eye detect and also lose focus. It seems the tracking doesn't automatically revert to bird subject.

Click to expand...

For model ii I think there’s no separate eye detect toggle. Have I missed it?

Click to expand...

I have an OM-1 II, and have both selected.

See SCP for subject detection, select birds.
and see menu AF, page 2, scroll down to eye detection.

This happens to me a lot too. I just chalk it up to differences in systems that each have pros and cons. I didn't think this was a secret, the hunting was covered in the reviews I saw.

So it's true that OM loses focus, but it's much better at acquiring focus. My Nikon Z9 sometimes gets stuck focused on nothing, and you need to prefocus on something or turn the zoom manually to get the bird in focus enough for subject detect to pick up.

I compensate for the hunting on the OM-1 with a high frame rate. At the end of the day, I often get more critically sharp photos with the OM-1. The Z9 is more consistent, but it seems to be consistently 95%. The OM-1 fluctuates between 80% and 99%. This is especially common if the Z9 decides the bird is too far away so it decides to focus on its butt.

I haven't tried it extensively, but the G9II might be better for the larger birds that are easier to track. I like the OM-1 because I'm shooting warblers darting around in branches, so initial focus acquisition is most important. The G9II has slower initial focus acquisition, but seems stickier.

I wouldn't think you'd need 600mm for a heron. If you need 600mm to fill the frame, you're probably too far and the atmospheric distortion will ruin the detail. The G9II and 200mm might be better for big birds like if you're in the Wakodahatchee Wetlands.

3dpan said:

sherman_levine said:

3dpan said:

SteveNunez said:

Hey everyone,

I've noticed that the OM-1 II struggles with maintaining focus during bursts of birds in flight, often losing focus mid-sequence and producing blurry frames. Given that this camera is popular among nature photographers, why hasn't OM System improved the 'subject detection' tracking for birds in flight? This issue is well known but doesn't get much attention on YouTube, yet it’s a major frustration for OM-1 II users.

The OM-1 is often praised for its speed and autofocus, but it's incredibly frustrating to see it lose focus mid-burst, only to reacquire it a few frames later—making it unpredictable. I've attached a screenshot showing only 3 frames in focus in this particular set.

At this point, I’m on the verge of giving up on the OM-1 II and the OM 150-600mm. I simply can't get full sequences in focus. This isn’t user error—the focus jumps from sharp to soft at SH2, 20FPS, resulting in nearly as many throwaway shots as keepers.

Hoping for a firmware update to make the OM-1 the best it can be!

Click to expand...

Do you have eye detect selected as well as bird subject ?

Using 20fps, SH2, I find that if the bird turns its head then I lose eye detect and also lose focus. It seems the tracking doesn't automatically revert to bird subject.

Click to expand...

For model ii I think there’s no separate eye detect toggle. Have I missed it?

Click to expand...

I have an OM-1 II, and have both selected.

See SCP for subject detection, select birds.
and see menu AF, page 2, scroll down to eye detection.

Click to expand...

I don't know about the OM1.2, but for the OM-1.1, Eye Detection is automatically set to OFF when Subject Detection (eg Birds, Cars, etc) is engaged. Page 90 of OM-1.1 manual.

Mike

mikero said:

3dpan said:

sherman_levine said:

3dpan said:

SteveNunez said:

Hey everyone,

I've noticed that the OM-1 II struggles with maintaining focus during bursts of birds in flight, often losing focus mid-sequence and producing blurry frames. Given that this camera is popular among nature photographers, why hasn't OM System improved the 'subject detection' tracking for birds in flight? This issue is well known but doesn't get much attention on YouTube, yet it’s a major frustration for OM-1 II users.

The OM-1 is often praised for its speed and autofocus, but it's incredibly frustrating to see it lose focus mid-burst, only to reacquire it a few frames later—making it unpredictable. I've attached a screenshot showing only 3 frames in focus in this particular set.

At this point, I’m on the verge of giving up on the OM-1 II and the OM 150-600mm. I simply can't get full sequences in focus. This isn’t user error—the focus jumps from sharp to soft at SH2, 20FPS, resulting in nearly as many throwaway shots as keepers.

Hoping for a firmware update to make the OM-1 the best it can be!

Click to expand...

Do you have eye detect selected as well as bird subject ?

Using 20fps, SH2, I find that if the bird turns its head then I lose eye detect and also lose focus. It seems the tracking doesn't automatically revert to bird subject.

Click to expand...

For model ii I think there’s no separate eye detect toggle. Have I missed it?

Click to expand...

I have an OM-1 II, and have both selected.

See SCP for subject detection, select birds.
and see menu AF, page 2, scroll down to eye detection.

Click to expand...

I don't know about the OM1.2, but for the OM-1.1, Eye Detection is automatically set to OFF when Subject Detection (eg Birds, Cars, etc) is engaged. Page 90 of OM-1.1 manual.

Mike

Click to expand...

My reading of the manual is . . .

Page 90 of the Manual says

BIRD:
"The camera detects birds. It tracks focus on such elements as the
head or eyes".

Which tells us that 'bird eye' is integral with the setting of the Subject Detection to BIRD. And that suggests that with this camera the [Face & Eye] Detection setting is for human subjects - and it's logical for that to be disabled if the Subject Detection is looking for birds.

Similarly the setting for cats, dog and similar animals

In other words the OM-1 dos not have specific eye detection. It has [Face & Eye] detection for photographing people and for the two Subject Detection settings for animals (bird and cat icons) the eye detection is built in

jj

jjbinx said:

mikero said:

3dpan said:

sherman_levine said:

3dpan said:

SteveNunez said:

Hey everyone,

I've noticed that the OM-1 II struggles with maintaining focus during bursts of birds in flight, often losing focus mid-sequence and producing blurry frames. Given that this camera is popular among nature photographers, why hasn't OM System improved the 'subject detection' tracking for birds in flight? This issue is well known but doesn't get much attention on YouTube, yet it’s a major frustration for OM-1 II users.

The OM-1 is often praised for its speed and autofocus, but it's incredibly frustrating to see it lose focus mid-burst, only to reacquire it a few frames later—making it unpredictable. I've attached a screenshot showing only 3 frames in focus in this particular set.

At this point, I’m on the verge of giving up on the OM-1 II and the OM 150-600mm. I simply can't get full sequences in focus. This isn’t user error—the focus jumps from sharp to soft at SH2, 20FPS, resulting in nearly as many throwaway shots as keepers.

Hoping for a firmware update to make the OM-1 the best it can be!

Click to expand...

Do you have eye detect selected as well as bird subject ?

Using 20fps, SH2, I find that if the bird turns its head then I lose eye detect and also lose focus. It seems the tracking doesn't automatically revert to bird subject.

Click to expand...

For model ii I think there’s no separate eye detect toggle. Have I missed it?

Click to expand...

I have an OM-1 II, and have both selected.

See SCP for subject detection, select birds.
and see menu AF, page 2, scroll down to eye detection.

Click to expand...

I don't know about the OM1.2, but for the OM-1.1, Eye Detection is automatically set to OFF when Subject Detection (eg Birds, Cars, etc) is engaged. Page 90 of OM-1.1 manual.

Mike

Click to expand...

My reading of the manual is . . .

Page 90 of the Manual says

BIRD:
"The camera detects birds. It tracks focus on such elements as the
head or eyes".

Which tells us that 'bird eye' is integral with the setting of the Subject Detection to BIRD. And that suggests that with this camera the [Face & Eye] Detection setting is for human subjects - and it's logical for that to be disabled if the Subject Detection is looking for birds.

Similarly the setting for cats, dog and similar animals

In other words the OM-1 dos not have specific eye detection. It has [Face & Eye] detection for photographing people and for the two Subject Detection settings for animals (bird and cat icons) the eye detection is built in

jj

Click to expand...

That's my reading of it too.

Mike

I've owned a Canon R5, R5ii, plus a Pana G9ii. I own two Z8s, an OM-1 and an OM-1ii. NONE of them tracked/track birds well throughout.

With the R5ii, I lost some near-perfect shots because it lost focus, once when a pair of Hyacinth Macaws flew straight towards me and once when a Sunbittern (beautiful in flight) flew almost parallel to the plane of focus. Most of the shots weren't sharp. @/&*|\<%~# !

For the Z8, well-known YouTuber Steve Perry even recommends configuring the camera for a handover technique where initial acquisition uses subject detection but it is turned off for subsequent shots, where only tracking is used.

This is not a matter of simple firmware updates. Subject detection requires totally different algorithms from tracking and often struggles with fast-moving targets. Tracking, when using PDAF, tends to be easier but sucks at initial target acquisition. I am actually contemplating ways to adopt Steve Perry's recommendation on the OM-1s, which may lead to better results.

Just don't expect a camera set to subject recognition to deliver perfect tracking. None of them do.

My recommendations.. use IS-2 (vertical IS only), set the camera to shot even if not in focus, focus sensitivity to the default (0) position

epozar said:

My recommendations.. use IS-2 (vertical IS only), set the camera to shot even if not in focus, focus sensitivity to the default (0) position

Click to expand...

Yes, Release Priority set to ON is the default when C-AF is selected, and what I would choose. Why change OMDS's recommendation?

I believe I read somewhere (but I can't say for sure) that with Release Priority set to OFF (where it will check focus) that only applies to the first frame in a burst. So it wouldn't help stop odd frames in a burst being out of focus.

I've not found sensitivity makes much difference when using Subject Detection, so I leave it set to zero.

Mike

mikero said:

3dpan said:

sherman_levine said:

3dpan said:

SteveNunez said:

Hey everyone,

I've noticed that the OM-1 II struggles with maintaining focus during bursts of birds in flight, often losing focus mid-sequence and producing blurry frames. Given that this camera is popular among nature photographers, why hasn't OM System improved the 'subject detection' tracking for birds in flight? This issue is well known but doesn't get much attention on YouTube, yet it’s a major frustration for OM-1 II users.

The OM-1 is often praised for its speed and autofocus, but it's incredibly frustrating to see it lose focus mid-burst, only to reacquire it a few frames later—making it unpredictable. I've attached a screenshot showing only 3 frames in focus in this particular set.

At this point, I’m on the verge of giving up on the OM-1 II and the OM 150-600mm. I simply can't get full sequences in focus. This isn’t user error—the focus jumps from sharp to soft at SH2, 20FPS, resulting in nearly as many throwaway shots as keepers.

Hoping for a firmware update to make the OM-1 the best it can be!

Click to expand...

Do you have eye detect selected as well as bird subject ?

Using 20fps, SH2, I find that if the bird turns its head then I lose eye detect and also lose focus. It seems the tracking doesn't automatically revert to bird subject.

Click to expand...

For model ii I think there’s no separate eye detect toggle. Have I missed it?

Click to expand...

I have an OM-1 II, and have both selected.

See SCP for subject detection, select birds.
and see menu AF, page 2, scroll down to eye detection.

Click to expand...

I don't know about the OM1.2, but for the OM-1.1, Eye Detection is automatically set to OFF when Subject Detection (eg Birds, Cars, etc) is engaged. Page 90 of OM-1.1 manual.

Mike

Click to expand...

The OP specifically asked about OM-1 II.

Tracking for the OM-1 II is different from the OM-1 I.

Eye detection frame can be switched on/off independent of subject selected.
I quoted the menu item in my post above.

mikero said:

epozar said:

My recommendations.. use IS-2 (vertical IS only), set the camera to shot even if not in focus, focus sensitivity to the default (0) position

Click to expand...

Yes, Release Priority set to ON is the default when C-AF is selected, and what I would choose. Why change OMDS's recommendation?

I believe I read somewhere (but I can't say for sure) that with Release Priority set to OFF (where it will check focus) that only applies to the first frame in a burst. So it wouldn't help stop odd frames in a burst being out of focus.

Click to expand...

You are mistaken I think, Release priority works in a way that it releases whether the focus is set or not

mikero said:

I've not found sensitivity makes much difference when using Subject Detection, so I leave it set to zero.

Click to expand...

It "jumps focus" if set high

epozar said:

mikero said:

epozar said:

My recommendations.. use IS-2 (vertical IS only), set the camera to shot even if not in focus, focus sensitivity to the default (0) position

Click to expand...

Yes, Release Priority set to ON is the default when C-AF is selected, and what I would choose. Why change OMDS's recommendation?

I believe I read somewhere (but I can't say for sure) that with Release Priority set to OFF (where it will check focus) that only applies to the first frame in a burst. So it wouldn't help stop odd frames in a burst being out of focus.

Click to expand...

You are mistaken I think, Release priority works in a way that it releases whether the focus is set or not

Click to expand...

I think that's what I said. With Release Priority set to ON it won't check focus. With Release Priority set to OFF it will check focus, but as I understand (and I may be wrong) only on the first frame in a burst.

epozar said:

epozar said:

I've not found sensitivity makes much difference when using Subject Detection, so I leave it set to zero.

Click to expand...

It "jumps focus" if set high

Click to expand...

3dpan said:

sherman_levine said:

3dpan said:

SteveNunez said:

Hey everyone,

I've noticed that the OM-1 II struggles with maintaining focus during bursts of birds in flight, often losing focus mid-sequence and producing blurry frames. Given that this camera is popular among nature photographers, why hasn't OM System improved the 'subject detection' tracking for birds in flight? This issue is well known but doesn't get much attention on YouTube, yet it’s a major frustration for OM-1 II users.

The OM-1 is often praised for its speed and autofocus, but it's incredibly frustrating to see it lose focus mid-burst, only to reacquire it a few frames later—making it unpredictable. I've attached a screenshot showing only 3 frames in focus in this particular set.

At this point, I’m on the verge of giving up on the OM-1 II and the OM 150-600mm. I simply can't get full sequences in focus. This isn’t user error—the focus jumps from sharp to soft at SH2, 20FPS, resulting in nearly as many throwaway shots as keepers.

Hoping for a firmware update to make the OM-1 the best it can be!

Click to expand...

Do you have eye detect selected as well as bird subject ?

Using 20fps, SH2, I find that if the bird turns its head then I lose eye detect and also lose focus. It seems the tracking doesn't automatically revert to bird subject.

Click to expand...

For model ii I think there’s no separate eye detect toggle. Have I missed it?

Click to expand...

I have an OM-1 II, and have both selected.

See SCP for subject detection, select birds.
and see menu AF, page 2, scroll down to eye detection.

Click to expand...

Seems on further reading that I am not quite correct.
Eye detection is not switchable, just the frame that displays eye detection.
It seems that eye detection is automatically part of subject detection (for subjects that have eyes).

My limited experience, so far, is that as long as the bird's eye is clearly visible then the camera will lock focus on it, but if the eye disappears (bird turns its head), then then focus is lost, maybe because it doesn't look like a bird any more.
I don't have all the answers.
Maybe in the OP's initial question, the bird subject with its very long neck doesn't fit in the OM's bird detect algorithm.

I don't know.

On p. 90 of the manual for OM-1i, FW 1.7, it does say that face and eye detection are turned off when in a subject detection mode. Presumably that refers to the legacy process that is separate from the AI-based subject detection. Notably, on p. 91 it describes how you have the option to turn on or off an eye detection box when in subject detection mode. It also says that the OM-1i will select the eye of a bird (or animal) if it detects the eye. Enabling or disabling the displayed eye detection box seems to make no difference, the algorithm tries to select an eye if it can whether or not the box is shown.

In any case, it is frustrating when focus seems to be unreliable.